Some international steel market industry information this week:
Netherland
Tata Steel Nederland will start a “massive upgrade project” for its No. 6 blast furnace in IJmuiden in early April. During which the control system and all refractory materials will be removed and replaced. The latter has a refractoriness up to 1500°C.
France
On March 30, a fire broke out in the No. 4 blast furnace with the largest volume in ArcelorMittal’s Dunkirk steel plant in France. The fire has been extinguished. The French Dunkirk Steel Works has three blast furnaces with an annual production capacity of about 7 million tons of pig iron. The annual production capacity of No. 4 blast furnace is about 36,000 tons.
India
Recently, India’s Punjab National Power Co., Ltd. raised the electricity price of large and medium-sized enterprises by 0.6 rupees/kWh to 5.5 rupees/kWh for a period of five years, with an annual increase of 3%, effective from April 1.
Vietnam
Vietnam’s Hoa Phat’s Dung Quat steel plant will restart blast furnace No. 3 in early April. The steelworks has four blast furnaces, each with an annual capacity of 1 million tons; two are currently in operation. The annual production capacity of crude steel is 5.6 million tons, the annual production capacity of hot coil is 3.5 million tons. And the annual production capacity of long products for construction is 2.6 million tons.
Germany
In May, German steelmaker Salzgitter will overhaul its A blast furnace and restart its smaller C blast furnace, which has been idle since 2019 due to weak local demand. After the overhaul of blast furnace A is completed, the company will decide whether to shut down blast furnace C according to market conditions.